Hydrotherapy installation for conventional bathtub



Nov. 29, 1966 G. H. REICH 3,288,134

HYDROTHERAPY INSTALLATION FOR CONVENTIONAL BATHTUB Filed Aug. 7, 1965 I NV E NTOR.

G/L BERT H, RE/CH United States Patent O 3,288,134 HYDROTHERAPY INSTALLATION FOR CONVENTIQNAL BATHTUB Gilbert H. Reich, 1082 E. Linden, Richmond Heights, M0. Filed Aug. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 300,454 2 Claims. (Cl. 12866) This invention relates to hydrotherapy apparatus, and particularly to an installation which circulates and aerates water within a bathtub in a manner suitable for hydrotherapy.

The objects of the present invention include providing a novel apparatus and method of installation, in which the larger elements of the hydrotherapy unitprincipally its pump and motor-are permanently located outside of the tub. The advantages achieved, which are included in the purposes of this invention, are: safety in avoiding shock hazards, almost total concealment of the unit, provision of a unit which is self-draining and requires no cleaning, and one whose nozzle aerator may be readily disconnected and stored, leaving no elements visible except a valve which projects over the water level of the tub, and a timer switch. Even when the nozzle aerator is in place, the apparatus leaves substantially the entire space within the tub for occupancy by the person receiving the hydrotherapy treatment.

The invention may be briefly stated as utilizing the connection of the drain shoe to the drain stopper as a concealed reservoir from which water is pumped externally of the tub back over its upper edge to a flow control valve, to which a swiveling aerator nozzle may be readily attached. I apply it to conventional bathtub installations, having a drain shoe leading to a waste stopper, usually located at the base of the tub overflow pipe. Summarizing, I direct water from the drain shoe to the waste stopper, using it as the channel (or concealed reservoir) from which to pump the tub water back to a point above the water level of the tub. There I provide valve means to control the flow of water circulated, means to conduct the water downward to a point below the water level in the tub, means to accelerate its flow into a jet, means to draw air from above the water level into said jet, and means to direct the jet beneath the water level of the tub at a chosen angle, whereby to circulate and agitate the water in the manner of a hydrotherapy bath.

With this general explanation, it is apparent .that the present invention is intended to replace both the portable type of hydrotherapy units, which consist of a combination motor and pump intended to be set into a conventional bathtub, below its water level, for agitation and aeration of the water and circulating it in a stream; and also to replace the specialized hydrotherapy bath installations which are intended not for general bathing purposes but entirely for therapeutic use.

In the drawing which illustrates the preferred embodiment of this invention, the figure is an elevational view, partly in section, showing my new apparatus and its installation, in a conventional bathtub.

Shown in the figure is the drain end, generally designated 10, of a conventional bathtub, shown in section after cutting away the side apron 11 which descends from the upper edge of the tub to the floor and conceals the inner wall 12 of the tub. Located in the base of the tub at the drain shoe end and likewise concealed by the apron 11 and the room partition wall 29 is a drain outlet opening 13, protected by a strainer 14 and coupled by a drain shoe 15 and its drain shoe line or pipe 16 for flow at a slightly downward angle to a drain or waste stopper T 17, located at the base of a vertical overflow pipe 24. The drain stopper T 17 includes a tapering stopper seat 18. A vertically reciprocable drain stopper 19 may be lowered to closed position against the seat 18 by the chain of connected rigid drain operating wires 20, extending through the overflow pipe 24 to a drain stopper lever 21 fulcrum-mounted in a tub overflow shoe 22. The tub water level 23 is established by the elevation of the shoe 22 in the tub wall at the drain end 10.

Utilizing this conventional type of bathtub, drain stopper and overflow installation, the present embodiment provides hydrotherapy apparatus whose recirculating water pump, generally designated 25, and the electrical motor 26 which powers it, are permanently installed and concealed behind the tub apron 11, between the wall of the .tub at its drain end 10 and the room partition 29. The drain shoe connector line 16 is utilized as the channel or concealed reservoir from which water is pumped from the tub for recirculation. The only visible elements, permanently installed, are the flow control valve generally designated 27 (which is inconspicuous because of its resemblance to a usual bathroom faucet valve) permanently mounted by a short pipe coupling 28 through the wall 29 against which the drain end,10 of the bathtub is installed. The coupling 28 is located immediately above the upper edge 30 of the tub and extends over the tub inwardly of the upper edge 30, so that the nozzle aerator hereafter described may project downward into the tub from the downwardly directed flow control valve outlet 31.

A T is inserted in the drain shoe line 16 between the drain shoe 15 and the stopper T 17. A first rubber water hose line 36 is connected between the side outlet 37 of the T 35 and the inlet side 38 of the pump 25. The pump 25 with its motor 26 is preferably located as shown, at one side of the overflow pipe 24, in any convenient position but with the pump 25 so elevated that its inlet side 38 is above the level of the T outlet 37. The outlet side 39 of the pump 25 is located still higher; to it is connected at second rubber water hose line 40 which leads upward to and connects with the coupling 28 to the control valve 27. The use of flexible rubber water hoses 36, 40 aids in locating the motor 26 and pump 25 in the relatively limited space available between the wall 29 and the drain end 10 of the tub; only the second hose 40 and the valve coupling 28 pass through the wall 29. The rubber hoses 36, 40 also minimize the hazard of electrical shock. However, to avoid any such possibility, the installation is permanently grounded by the grounding connection 41 to the motor 26.

The permanent installation is completed by an electric timer 45 which is wall-mounted in a position convenient .to the user of the apparatus. Electrical conductors 46 from the timer 45 to a relay control switch 47 (which may be in circuit with a transformer, not shown, to employ low voltage) connect and disconnect a source of 110 volt current to the motor 26.

The apparatus is completed by a nozzle aerator generally designated 50, having at its upper end a quick-connector fitting generally designated 51, readily connected to and disconnected from the flow valve outlet 31 of the flow control valve 27. Commercially available quick-connect fittings may be used for this purpose. For simplicity of illustration, I show the type having a cam lever 52 which tightens a metal strap 53 to compress a rubber coupling element 54 which holds a downwardly extending fixed metal tube 55 in flow communication with the valve 31. Onto this fixed metal tube 55 is mounted, for easy swiveling, the smaller end of a snugly fitted annular dome or reducer 56, which flanges outwardly and accommodates at its larger, lower side an outer or aerator tube 57 of substantially greater diameter than the fixed tube 55. In the side walls of the aerator tube 57, immediately below the dome 56 and above the water level 23, are air inlet holes 58. The tube 57 projects downward well below the water level 23 to a substantially right angle bend 59, term-inating in a substantially horizontal portion 60 referred to hereinafter as the air entrainment portion.

Brazed Onto the lower end of the fixed tube 55 within the dome 56 is an upper end portion 62 of a swivel coupling 61 which holds the dome 56 in its axial position on the tube 55. Into the lower end 63 of the coupling 61 there is inserted, with an angularly turnable fit, an inner tube 64, through which the water from the flow control valve 27 and the fixed metal tube 55 is conducted downward. At the lower end, within the bend 59 of the aerator tube 57 there is attached to the inner tube 64 a nozzle 65, of reduced diameter, which turns the water flowing downward through the inner tube 64 to a substantially horizontal direction and causes it to emerge from the nozzle opening 66 in a jet. The air entrainment portion 60 of the aerator tube 57 is located annularly outward of the nozzle opening 66 and extends somewhat aft of it. Water emerging as a jet from the nozzle opening 66 draws into it air through the aerator tube 57, entering at its air openings 58 above the water level 23, for entrainment in and aeration of the jet.

A guide vane 67 may, if desired, be brazed in the bend 59 to cause the inner tube 64 and outer tube 57 to swivel together in precise angularity. I have found that precise angular alignment of the jet from the nozzle opening 66 with the air entrainment portion 60 is not essential to the operation of the device. Therefore the vane 67 may be omitted; in this case control of the jet nozzle 65 against the inner side of the horizontal portion 60 of the aerator tube 57 will swivel the inner tube 64 within the coupling 61. With or without the vane 67 the user may determine an angle by which the flow from the aerator nozzle 66 is to be directed, and by turning the air entrainment portion 60 and setting the time switch 4-5, may cause the water to circulate and agitate within the tube in a manner best suited for hydrotherapy treatment. The valve 27 controls the intensity of the jet by increasing or decreasing the rate of flow of water. It is never to be shut ofi? completely and preferably includes on its valve head 68 a vane 69 which is presented against the valve seat 70, so that it is impossible to completely shut off the flow.

From the foregoing description, the method of installation will be apparent. With the pump 25 and the motor 26 supplied as one unit, and the aerator nozzle 56 supplied as another, the installer locates the unit consisting of the pump 25 and motor 26 externally of the tub behind its apron 11, and connects its relay operated switch 47 to a source of 110 volt current and to the timer 45. He inserts in the drain shoe line 16 a T connection; connects the outlet of the T connection to the inlet 38 with the rubber hose 36; and connects the second hose 40 from the pump outlet 39, leading it upward through the partition wall 29 to connect to the inlet end of the control valve coupling 28, at a level above the tub water level 23. The aerator nozzle 50 is then connected at this point, with its air inlets 58 above the water level 23, and with the body of the nozzle 50 oriented downward to extend below such water level 23.

For cleaning the tub, and other periods when the hydrotherapy apparatus is not to be utilized, the aerator nozzle 66 is readily disconnected and stored. The unit requires no cleaning. When the timer 45 operates the relay control switch 47 to turn off the pump 45, the water remaining in the unit drains downwardly, through one of two channels. The first channel of drainage is through the second rubber hose 40, the pump 25 (which permits water to drain through when not in operation) and the first rubber hose 36, into the drain shoe connector line 16. The second channel of drainage is downward through the quick-connect fitting 51 to the inner tube 64 of the aerator nozzle 50, then into the tub and through the strainer 14.

Detailed modifications will occur to those interested in applying the present invention to special types of installations. Accordingly, the present invention is not to be construed narrowly, but as fully coextensive with the claims hereof.

I claim:

1. For adapting to therapeutic use a bathtub installation of the type having a drain end and a side apron concealing an external drain shoe and drain shoe line which communicates between the tub and a vertical stoppered draincontrol T,

apparatus comprising a flow by-pass Tin the drain shoe line,

a first water hose line connected to the T,

an electric-motor powered recirculating pump external of the tub concealed in part by such apron and having a pump inlet side to which said first water host is connected,

the pump further having an outlet side,

a second water hose line connected to said outlet side of the pump,

motor control means to operate the pump,

a flow control valve fixedly mounted above the tub water level inwardly of its upper edge on the outflow side of the second hose line, which valve including means to prevent its complete closure,

the valve having a downwardly directed outlet,

and a nozzle aerator assembly mounted on the valve.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the nozzle aerator assembly including an upper tube directed downward and means at its upper end quickly to connect and disconnect from the valve outlet,

an inner tube having its upper end connected for angular swiveling and flow communication with said upper tube, and

having at its lower end a jet nozzle directed substantially horizontally below the water level of the tub,

said nozzle aerator assembly further including an outer tube having an air inlet above the water level and an air entrainment portion annularly outward of said jet nozzle,

whereby the outer tube and its air entrainment portion may be directed along with the jet nozzle at a chosen angle within the tub below the water level.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,091,167 8/1937 Solley 4-180 X 2,210,846 8/1940 Aghnides 4-180 X 2,529,255 11/1950 Jobe 4-180 2,587,335 2/1952 Landergott 128-66 X 2,799,866 7/1957 Iawett 128-66 X 3,085,576 4/1963 Ro-cke 4-180 X 3,159,849 12/1964 Jacuzzi 128-66 X RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

L. W. TRAPP, Assistant Examiner. 

1. FOR ADAPTING TO THERAPEUTIC USE A BATHTUB INSTALLATION OF THE TYPE HAVING A DRAIN END AND A SIDE APRON CONCEALING AN EXTERNAL DRAIN SHOE AND DRAIN SHOE LINE WHICH COMMUNICATES BETWEEN THE TUB AND A VERTICAL STOPPERED DRAINCONTROL T, APPARATUS COMPRISING A FLOW BY-PASS T IN THE DRAIN SHOE LINE, A FIRST WATER HOSE LINE CONNECTED TO THE T, AN ELECTRIC-MOTOR POWERED RECIRCULATING PUMP EXTERNAL OF THE TUB CONCEALED IN PART BY SUCH APRON AND HAVING A PUMP INLET SIDE TO WHICH SAID FIRST WATER HOST IS CONNECTED, THE PUMP FURTHER HAVING AN OUTLER SIDE, A SECOND WATER HOSE LINE CONNECTED TO SAID OUTLET SIDE OF THE PUMP. MOTOR CONTROL MEANS TO OPERATE THE PUMP, A FLOW CONTROL VALVE FIXEDLY MOUNTED ABOVE THE TUB WATER LEVEL INWARDLY OF ITS UPPER EDGE ON THE OUTFLOW SIDE OF THE SECOND HOSE LINE, WHICH VALVE INCLUDING MEANS TO PREVENT ITS COMPLETE CLOSURE, THE VALVE HAVING A DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED OUTLET, AND A NOZZLE AERATOR ASSEMBLY MOUNTED ON THE VALVE. 